• Heather Coats, Tia Paganelli, Helene Starks, Taryn Lindhorst, Anne Starks Acosta, Larry Mauksch, and Ardith Doorenbos.
• 1 UW/Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence NIH/NHLBI Post-Doctoral Fellow (T32), University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
• J Palliat Med. 2017 Mar 1; 20 (3): 235240235-240.

BackgroundThere is a known shortage of trained palliative care professionals, and an even greater shortage of professionals who have been trained through interprofessional curricula. As part of an institutional Palliative Care Training Center grant, a core team of interprofessional palliative care academic faculty and staff completed a state-wide palliative care educational assessment to determine the needs for an interprofessional palliative care training program.ObjectiveThe purpose of this article is to describe the process and results of our community needs assessment of interprofessional palliative care educational needs in Washington state.DesignWe approached the needs assessment through a cross-sectional descriptive design by using mixed-method inquiry.Setting/SubjectsEach phase incorporated a variety of settings and subjects.MeasurementsThe assessment incorporated multiple phases with diverse methodological approaches: a preparatory phase-identifying key informants; Phase I-key informant interviews; Phase II-survey; and Phase III-steering committee endorsement.ResultsThe multiple phases of the needs assessment helped create a conceptual framework for the Palliative Care Training Center and developed an interprofessional palliative care curriculum. The input from key informants at multiple phases also allowed us to define priority needs and to refine an interprofessional palliative care curriculum.ConclusionsThis curriculum will provide an interprofessional palliative care educational program that crosses disciplinary boundaries to integrate knowledge that is beneficial for all palliative care clinicians. The input from a range of palliative care clinicians and professionals at every phase of the needs assessment was critical for creating an interprofessional palliative care curriculum.

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